I am about as new to bee keeping as I can get. I don't even think i have been stung by a bee.

I'm really interested in starting a few colonies. To be honest I have lots of space and a place to catch swarms if I needed. I really just need the basic diggs to learn and evolve my skills as a keeper. I have watched all sorts of videos on youtube so I know enough to be dangerous.

I love to hunt and fish. I'm also quite keen on firearms. I was raised on a farm in Central North Carolina. Some how I never learned about bees. I'm married with two boxers and we just moved to Raleigh a few months ago.

I look forward to the information on the boards. If someone is a local and wants to show me the in's and out's of keeping I will bring sandwiches.

Welcome to the forum, Bee-fresh. There are lots of threads and videos here you can pick up some knowledge from. Also find your local bee club and join, it will help and you can probably find someone to help you along. Good luck

Wait a minute,..I almost read that as you being married *to* the boxers...??!! :shock: Glad I went back and read it again!!!! :-D

Sounds like you have a good place to set a bee yard up. Study through the fall and winter, work on putting your equipment together, don't be afraid to ask questions but lots of answers can be found simply by searching the forum....there is LOADS of information here!!!

You mentioned that you've had no honey bee stings but have you been stung by any type of flying insect larger than a mosquito? I'm just curious as to your body's reaction. When I was first beginning to work my way into beekeeping I was concerned about whether I would have any type of allergic reaction from a sting. It had been years since I had been stung by a wasp or bee. I was at a fellow's house (who became my mentor) and we were looking at a hive (that I ended up buying) and one stung me on the inside of an upper arm (tender). I didn't think my mentor saw it as he was looking into the opened hive but he said, with what I sensed as being a little humor to him, "Looks like you just got initiated."...and went on doing what he was doing. The sting welted up, itched a few days, but that was it....I was happy that I had no more reaction that that. Bee stings for someone who is allergic to them can be a bad thing. Just wanted to be sure you stay aware of that and not trying to throw a damper on things.

As for me, I went all 8-frame medium Langstroth. This makes it where I can interchange any parts between hives or simply within the same hive. I'm not getting any younger, either, so the somewhat lighter equipment is nice. You will have to deal with wax moths, mites, and small hive beetles. For me, down here in Alabama, I believe my bees' biggest enemy is the small hive beetle. The one hive that I lost I lost to wax moths, though, or at least they made a heavy presence when "something else" happened to the hive. I run screened bottom boards and I'm working on getting oil trays under all of my hives. I've keeping Beetle Jail Jrs (small oil traps) in all of my hives. I'm attempting to start all of my hives on small cell foundation to hopefully help reduce the mite populations (small cell is a debatable strategy, though).

Anyhow, that's some food for thought for you. One more thing is that you probably need to go into your profile and enter your location so that folks will know where you're at and you won't have to give them your location in all of your posts...otherwise they'll just think you're "Hopelessly Lost". ;)

Best wishes,Ed

PS... Welcome to the forum!!! :-D

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